Spirituality - RoundTable

Spirituality is at the heart of business response,
although few companies would use the 'spiritual' label to describe their
actions. Effective Executive invited eminent personalities like Prof. Prabhu
Guptara; Wayne Visser, Author and Speaker; Alex Pattakos, Founder of the Center
for Personal Meaning; and Linda Sue Grimes, Columnist; to share their views on
spirituality.

Many of us fail to distinguish between religion
and spirituality. Is there a difference between the two? If yes, what
according to you is the difference between religion and spirituality?

Prabhu Guptara

It is fashionable nowadays to try to make a distinction
between "religion" as consisting of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and so on
(established and formal religions) and "spirituality" as consisting in attempts
to relate to the divine outside the established formalities of Christianity,
Islam, Buddhism and so on. In India, we have had a long tradition (since the
first century before Christ) of a split between religion (as in temples) and
spirituality (as in meditation and so on). However, in fact there is no real
distinction between "religion" and "spirituality" or, if there is a distinction,
it is a purely academic and theoretical one. In practice, all devotees of any
religion are seeking to experience God and to be guided by him....and everyone
who is "spiritual" is seeking exactly the same.

Wayne Visser

The difference is in the eye of the beholder. Religion and spirituality can be
synonymous in some people's minds, and different in others' perception. Usually,
religion is understood to refer to the more formalized institutions of faith,
while spirituality denotes a way of being, or an attitude to life. Hence, some
who regard themselves as spiritual, do not align themselves with any particular
formal religion.

Alex Pattakos

Indeed, in my view, there is a difference between spirituality and religion.
Spirituality refers to a concept that is intangible yet holistic, integrative,
systemic, developmental, and cross-cultural in its connotation. In other words,
it is both boundary less and boundary spanning at the same time. The
institutions of church and religion, by design (especially those denominations
that are "fundamentalist" in their orientation), on the other hand are basically
boundary setters, distinguishing who is "in" and who is "out."

Linda Sue Grimes

Religion refers to the method and practice for becoming soul-realized, which
leads to God awareness; therefore, we have various religions such as Hinduism,
Christianity, Islam, which provide systems of moral guidance and methods for
prayer and worship. Spirituality refers directly to the soul, its nature, its
function, its purpose, which can be known only intuitively by direct contact.
Only spirit can realize spirit. The physical body and the mind cannot know the
soul or God; however, the human being through religious study, practice,
meditation, and prayer can become self-realized, realizing the soul or God.
Religion can be known, but spirituality can only be realized. Religion,
therefore, is the tangible part of the search for God, and spirituality is the
intangible part.

2005, ICMR (IBS Center for Management Research). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
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